Data Centres and AI: has the horse already bolted?

Written by: (Contributed) on 15 September 2026

(US data centre protest July 2026. In the United States, the race to data centers is meeting an increasingly organized resistance. According to an analysis cited by the Stop Data Centers movement, protests have already had projects worth over $130 billion disrupted in just three months, indicating that the phenomenon is no longer a few isolated communities but a widespread front on a nationwide scale. Source: https://www.instagram.com/siamozeta/)

Moves to regulate data centres and AI provision in Australia are urgently required; they appear likely, however, to become a political football. Some problems have already arisen: moves elsewhere, to already use AI provision, for example, are likely to impinge upon Australia's sovereignty in light of US-led Cold War diplomatic positions. Little thought has also been given to abuses of power, its impact upon civil liberties and general accountability with AI; it serves the interests of those who wield class and state power.

A decision to increase US military involvement in Australia with provision to 'accelerate force posture initiatives at Australian bases, bolster co-operation in combined logistics, and build greater interoperability through joint exercises', leaves little to the imagination. (1) Australia is a major hub for 'US interests'. It is also swept along in the latest wave of US-led militarism sweeping the Indo-Pacific region; inextricably linked to the struggle for technological mastery over that of perceived adversaries.

Almost hidden in the joint military media release, however, was a couched reference to 'defence industrial co-operation to enable shared capacity for guided weapons and next-generation capabilities'. (2) The latter was not clearly defined although reliable studies have already concluded that 'AI is incorporated into all our new weapons systems … AI depends on computing power … located in data centres all over the world. Data centres are the bricks and mortar of AI'. (3)

Increased US military involvement in Australia was referred to as 'current force posture measures include US marine corps rotations and US bombers operating from Top End bases, and will include Submarine Rotational Force West from next year'. (4) It rests, however, upon US direct access into 110 Australian military facilities. (5)

Studies of the military uses of data centres and AI have noted one of the criteria used for their locations has been 'positioning them near military facilities to best utilise the Cloud – Edge advantage'. It should be noted, moreover, that the proposed 20,000 hectare site in the Northern Territory allocated for the 'Ares Project' data centre, partway between Katherine and Tennant Creek, is close to major military facilities being built in the Top End. (6)

The same media release also casually drew attention to official high-level diplomatic meetings between Canberra and US high-tech organisations based in California. Plans are already under-way to establish data centres in Australia 'for American technology giants'. (7)
And it is big business: some of the US-based companies have an estimated US$8 trillion in capital, and 'are considering hefty data centre spending in Australia as political appetite for data centres across the US starts to splinter'. (8) Out-sourcing as political and diplomatic expediency? The US are already calling the shots.

As Vanguard noted in its article on the SA government’s decision to convene a Royal Commission into AI, one of the functions of data centres is to facilitate the entirely unproductive “mining” of speculative financial crypto-currencies.

It has been noted from various studies that the Australian defence industry is dominated by US military-industrial complex and software corporations which include Anduril and Palantir and their massive data centres and 'military focussed AI'. (9)

The intrusion into Australia's civil society by such organisations is not difficult to establish: Palantir AI is used by US ICE personnel to target and deport asylum seekers; it has already been found to assist with surveillance of Australian workers. (10)

The developments coincided with an announcement that Canberra was intending to introduce parliamentary legislation concerning 'regulating social media giants and AI'. (11) And the Albanese government have already stated their intention is to 'introduce guardrails around AI and data centres'. (12)

The whole matter, however, has already proved controversial with criticisms being raised from both the Liberal Party and One Nation about perceived problems with censorship of the internet. As if it was not being done already. The two parties always toe the US line.

The real issue which has arisen, however, is that the decisions have already taken place elsewhere to establish data centres and use AI. The horse has already bolted, the doors left wide open, revealing a great deal more than meets the casual glance. Australian people, for example, already undergo a daily bombardment of hackings and unwanted intrusions into all computer and mobile phone systems. It has become so commonplace many people regard it as normal behaviour. They can do little about the problem; accountability resides elsewhere and beyond reach. Problems with legal jurisdiction and off-shoring are also commonplace.

Massive computer hackings now take place on a regular basis; no personal information can be regarded as secure, raising serious questions about civil liberties. It has become the new face of the present US-led Cold War waged by tech giants. The latest example resulted in 1,079,819 Australian residents losing their personal information and contact details to unidentified hackers between 10 and 27th of August. (13) Australia only has a population of 27 million people, and an active workforce of about ten million workers.

Reports that foreign cyber entities have made 'attempts to access intelligence data … and … infiltrate government departments' has become hardly newsworthy. (14) In Australia numerous government departments already only exist with on-line contact facilities; they are relatively easy prey for cyber-based criminals and spies. The public foot the bill, in more ways than merely finance; identity theft is rampant.

The problem is now set to escalate with an expansion of data centre facilities reliant upon AI designed for intelligence-gathering and profiling: We need an independent foreign policy!

1. US military to ramp up pressure, Australian, 4 September 2026.
2. Ibid.
3. Data Centres pamphlet distributed at national IPAN conference, Renegade Activists
4. Australian, op.cit., 4 September 2026.
5. The US now has access to more than half of Australia's military bases, The Guardian (U.K.), 7 September 2026.
6. Data Centres, op.cit., (2026)
7. Ibid.
8. Sydney grid capacity 'sold out', Australian, 8 September 2026.
9. Australia to export AI., The Financial Times, 7 September 2026.
10. The heavy US military footprint in Australia, IPAN., publication, 2026, page 7.
11. Ibid.
12. Albanese versus the algorithms, Australian, 7 September 2026.
13. Student details stolen in maths hack, Australian, 8 September 2026.
14. Philippines reports foreign cyber, Channel 5 (Philippines), 18 February 2025.